Tira is one of our adorable Medieval Cats. We adopted her in the fall of 2010 along with Bubu, her brother, from a vet’s office in Bucharest. You can find more details about that event here. The point is, her whole upbringing, from a little tiny newborn kitten up to 4-5 months of age, when we adopted her, was fairly traumatic. Can you imagine living in a metal crate, under fluorescent lights, with scores of people parading by, almost all of them strangers, and being passed over for adoption after being picked up, handled and put back down?

Tira, an adorable gray kitten about 4-5 months old.

When we got her home, all she would do, all day long, was to hide in corners and crevices, like you see her in these photographs, with a scared look on her face.

Tira, an adorable gray kitten about 4-5 months old.

It took time for her to blossom into the trusting beauty she is today. Just a couple of weeks later, we were able to take her outside, where a new world opened up to her. These are a few photos taken in our yard at that time.

Tira, our adopted kitten.

While she was able to relax a bit more by this time, you can still see some fear in her eyes. She’s just not sure of herself.

Bubu and Tira are brother and sister, and they’re adopted. Tira’s the grey one.

What’s more, she was easily spooked by any sudden sounds. She hadn’t come into her own yet.

A sudden noise spooked Tira.A sudden noise spooked Tira.

Even as she ventured into the garden, her stance was clearly cautious and timid. She had a bit of growing up to do.

Tira explores the garden.

Thankfully, just a few months later, she had opened up to us completely. Here she’s sleeping in one of the rooms together with Bubu (her brother) and Sasha, on her back nonetheless, which means her abdomen is exposed to us — a sign of trust and safety. Also note the look of full contentment on her face, a look which you’ll see in more of her recent photographs.

Bubu, Sasha and Tira sleeping together.

And here’s Tira as we know her these days: a happy, loving, peaceful and very adorable kitty. She’s maintained her diminutive size, which makes her even more lovable. She’s still as small as the day we got her, while Bubu, her brother, has grown into a huge tabby with very sharp claws.

Our four cats love to sleep, as all cats do. What we think sets them apart though, is their preference for sleeping together, particularly in colder weather. Here are a few photos. Aren’t they adorable?

Warmer, sunny weather is finally here and our medieval cats can’t wait to spend time outside, lounging about in the garden or the yard, climbing trees, rooftops — all the fun things they love to do! Whereas before they begged to come inside and sleep, now they won’t even hear of it. They’re outside, romping about.

Sasha peers through the camera, or in LOLcat if you like, ceiling cat peers into your soul.

Here’s Sasha in a tree.

Sasha loves to climb trees and rooftops.

Here’s the tree that Sasha was climbing (it’s in the background).

Yellow bell blossoms on a beautiful spring day.

Bubu looks over his domain (the garden).

Bubu’s attention is absorbed by something in the garden.

Tira loves to relax just about anywhere. Here, she’s doing it in the garden.

Tira, our grey kitten.

Bubu loves to sit underneath our MINI.

Bubu loves to spend time underneath our MINI.

Bubu loves to play with sticks. He wraps his huge, sharp claws around them and starts chewing them up. He’s going to grow into a big tabby, I can tell.

The wooden house you see in the background of this last photo is their home. I’ll have more on that in a future post.

It is a well-known fact that kittens (even larger ones) love to playfight. They tumble around and over each other all day long, jumping on each other, frolicking, squeaking, filling our hearts with joy. Bubu and Tira are no different. They’re siblings and they’ve been together since birth. What makes this playfighting extra special is their special relationship and their origins.

They were found with their mother in Bucharest on the streets and were taken into a vet’s office to be cared for and put up for adoption. They were small, malnourished and fearful of people. They spent the first four or five months of their life in the vet’s office, in a room at the back, in a cage, without seeing sunlight, without running outside, without their mother. Nobody wanted them. Looking at them now, few people could understand how such beautiful kittens could be left unadopted, living in a crate for months. We certainly couldn’t understand it.

When we saw them, we fell in love with them right away, and when we found out that the vet couldn’t afford to keep them any more, because no one wanted them, we decided to adopt them on the spot and brought them to our home in the medieval city of Medias, where they live on a beautiful estate and can roam freely wherever they like, inside or outside the house.

So you see, that’s what makes them and their playfighting so special. They’ve literally been together since birth and love each other very much. We loved seeing them blossom from the shy, scared little kittens they were when we adopted them into the beautiful, loving, emotionally well-rounded creatures they are now, and we are so glad that we could offer them the chance to become Medieval Cats!

Here we will write of the adventures of four wise cats — Sasha, Zuzu, Tira and Bubu — who live in the medieval city of Medias, in the heart of Transilvania, Romania.

We miss Sasha so much. She passed away recently.Zuzu with a spiderweb on her head. Let’s call it the bride’s veil. Zuzu now lives in Bucharest.We miss Tira. She disappeared a couple of years ago.Bubu, our adorable tabby tomcat, in the yard.